Published 9:14 pm, Wednesday, December 10, 2014

The Lions held the upperhand in their rivalry against the Bruins in recent years -- a trend Brunswick changed Wednesday. Producing perhaps its best effort of the young season, Brunswick used a two-goal second period to edge visiting Kent, 3-2, in a New England Division I matchup.

"This is one of those games we circle at the beginning of each year," said Bruins coach Ron VanBelle, whose squad improved to 5-1. "We lost more Kent games than we won over the years and they beat us last year. It's been a while since we defeated them, so winning a league game like this is important."

Senior forward Tommy Dunleavy registered two goals and one assist, while sophomore forward Christian LeSueur scored the game-winner with 6:31 remaining in the second period for the Bruins.

"We've got four lines playing really well right now and I think tonight was our best effort so far this season," said Dunleavy, a co-captain. "We knew we had to battle to beat a really good program like Kent. Every single guy stepped up."

On a power play, the Bruins tallied the go-ahead goal when the opportunistic LeSueur tipped in a slap shot taken by sophomore defenseman Philip Kemp from just below the blue line, making it 3-2.

"We have been trying to work on getting it to me low on the power play, which opens things up on top for Phil," LeSueur said. "Some of the guys have been on the team for three or four years and I'm not sure if they had beaten Kent before, so it's a big win."

Trailing 2-1, after Lions senior forward Kevin Hill tallied at the 10:59 mark of the second period, the Bruins evened the score, thanks to the Dunleavy-Max Fuld combination. With the Bruins on a 2-on-1 rush, Fuld fed Dunleavy, who put a one-timer past Kent goalie Jackson Norris with 8:54 to go in the second period.

After the Bruins went ahead 3-2, the Lions went on a five-minute power play, as Brunswick was charged with a major penalty for hitting from behind. But the visitors failed to tally the tying goal.

"Killing that five-minute major was key," VanBelle said. "That could have been a big momentum swing, but the boys did a great job of killing it."

Keeping the puck deep, while applying offensive pressure with a third man high, Brunswick limited Kent to only four shots on goal during the third period. Receiving 18 saves from junior goalie Brian Ketchabaw, the Bruins outshot the Lions 32-20. Colin Bernard, Kemp, Patrick Burkinshaw, Michael Faulkner and Max Masiulis helped lead the Bruins' aggressive defensive play.

"Our defensemen made a lot of smart plays and were chipping the puck out high off the glass at times," VanBelle said. "Ketchabaw was steady in goal, giving us a chance."

Dunleavy's power play goal in which he beat Norris to the short side, gave Brunswick a 1-0 edge with 2:42 left in the opening period.

"It was a really good effort by Max Fuld and Colin Slyne of keeping the puck in the zone and I was fortunate enough to get the bounce off the goalie's pad. Tonight, we had to work as a unit and do things like screen the goalie and get quality shots and rebounds."